We spoke to freelance journalist Hardeep Singh – who is now entering the fourth year of a devastating libel battle with an obscure Indian holy man who is suing over a story which appeared in the Sikh Times and he says wrongly labelled him as “the leader of a cult” and an “imposter”.

Hardeep did not even get paid for the piece in question. It was about a religious and theological dispute – effectively about the man’s claim to be a successor to a Sikh saint – hardly something Earthly courts can rule on. And the Sikh Times has in any case already apologised to His Holiness Sant Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj.

Yet His Holiness – who has far as we know has never set foot in the UK – continues to pursue Hardeep through the UK courts, with the latest hearing due to be held next month.

He told Press Gazette: “It has completely put my life on hold and prevented me from moving on and having a normal life. It’s affected my family life and personal relationships because I am constantly stressed with the fear of bankruptcy.”

NHS heart doctor Peter Wilmshurst is in a similar boat, because he had the temerity to tell a US medical conference that he had some doubts about the benefits of a device used to treat holes in the heart.

He has spent three years – and £100,00 of his own money – fighting a libel action against a US medical devices company over a report of his comments which appeared on a US website.

Again a foreign claimant is using the UK libel system to tackle the individual rather than the publication.

Wilmshurst told Press Gazette: “As a doctor I can’t retract what I said. If I retract and say what I said isn’t true it puts patients at risk.”

Clegg is right, the libel law of England and Wales has become a laughing stock. It will be great news for all journalists if action is finally taken to put it right.